The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio)What Post-War Letters Reveal About Racism in Canada?
Sheila White's parents met in Nova Scotia just after the Second World War. As she describes in her biographical novel, "The Letters: Postmark Prejudice in Black and White," it was a love story for the ages. With one caveat: Vivien was white, Billy was Black. How they forged their relationship against family and societal disapproval provides a snapshot into the fraught race relations of the time, and how two individuals worked to dispel narrow thoughts about who they were and what their life together would be based on their differences. She talks to Jeyan Jeganathan about hers and her parents' anti-racism advocacy and what she learned by delving into their story.
